DESCRIPTION: The purpose of the training program "Alcoholic Tissue Injury" is to train qualified postdoctoral and predoctoral fellows in the pathobiology of experimental alcoholic injury. The postdoctoral program has been designed for candidates with a Ph.D., M.D., Sc.D., D.V.M. or D.D.S. degree. The predoctoral program will support candidates in our graduate school who have a B.S. or B.A. degree and who are preparing for a Ph.D. or M.D./Ph.D. degree. All candidates will be selected from a national pool of applicants and must be approved by a training committee before admission. The training committee will also monitor progress in the trainee's research efforts. Predoctoral students who are committed to alcohol-related research will normally be supported through most of their training period. The postdoctoral training period will normally be for two years but may be extended to a third year in exceptional situations. The candidates will receive their training in the department of Pathology and Cell Biology, which occupies 25,000 sq.ft. of research space in Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Twenty nine faculty members, M.D.'s or Ph.D.'s all of whom have USPHS-supported research projects related to alcoholism, are involved in the training effort. The multidisciplinary approach will emphasize concepts and research techniques of cellular and molecular biology, biophysics, biochemistry and immunology. We anticipate that trainees will develop insight into normal and pathologic processes that are influenced or altered by the presence of ethanol or by chronic alcohol intake. The research projects will be conducted under the auspices of the Alcohol Research Center and will primarily be involved with the effects of ethanol at the cellular and molecular level. In addition to research training in the laboratory, the trainees will attend formal courses, workshops, journal club sessions and seminars given by the staff scientists of the Alcohol Research Center, by other investigators at Thomas Jefferson University and by visiting scientists.